A passionate vision of beauty and motherhood with Kenza Keller, founder of talm

Hello Kenza, thank you for being with us today. First of all, can you introduce yourself?

Hello Standards! My name is Kenza Keller, I’m 34 years old, I’m a mother of two little girls, I live in Paris and I’m the founder of talm, which stands for “to all the mamas” and which is a French dermo-cosmetic brand with maternity expertise.

How did the idea for talm come about? What made you decide to create your own brand?

Before talm, I worked for about ten years in the luxury and cosmetics industry. I was marketing and communication director for the Byredo brand when, during my first pregnancy, I realised that it was difficult to have access to truly reassuring cosmetics at this time in a woman’s life. I had the feeling that I was very well looked after from a medical point of view, but in the end I had very few solutions for the well-being and beauty aspect. Information was difficult to find or sometimes contradictory… A real headache! I was also very struck by the fact that the only beauty products specialising in maternity that I could find spoke only of “stretch marks”, which is a rather violent injunction for the body. So I said to myself that there was something to do and to think differently…

The process of creating talm was then quite long. Firstly because I was very happy in the position I held at Byredo, I stayed there for more than 6 years, I wanted a long transition that would allow me to leave in good conditions and that would be respectful of my employers whom I adored, but also because I started a very long research and development work. I had my first daughter in 2018, that’s really when the idea started to germinate, I totally dedicated myself to the project in October 2020 and talm was launched the following year, in September 2021.

The creation of the range was a huge challenge for me, because in addition to wanting to eliminate all the classic harmful ingredients prohibited during pregnancy, I also wanted to go beyond the European regulations and think of a cutting-edge formulation, 100% safe not only during pregnancy but also during post-partum and breastfeeding. I wanted a formulation that was innovative but also hyper-sensory. It was very important to me that mothers should have products without any compromise and that talm should offer them a complete experience based on 4 pillars: safety, effectiveness, eco-responsibility but also pleasure, where the fact of taking care of oneself on a daily basis makes it possible to better apprehend all the bodily changes of this very soliciting and sometimes so upsetting period. 

In 3 words, how would you describe talm?

talm is a rigorous and expert brand that listens to women and is sensorial.

Rigorous and expert thanks to the safety and effectiveness of our formulas; attentive to women because our customers are at the heart of the brand; and sensorial thanks to our pretty bottles, delicate scents and pleasant, non-sticky textures.

What does a day in the life of a mother and business owner look like?

My days are rather classic and are never really the same… But I would say that I always take time to look after my daughters, in the morning or in the evening. In the morning, I go to the office, which is near the Canal Saint-Martin in Paris, I meet the team, then there are meetings, specific research on certain projects… The routine!

What advice would you give to someone who wants to become an entrepreneur?

I would say to surround yourself, especially when you are a solo founder, which is my case.  I very quickly felt this need and I was lucky enough to have Emmanuelle, my right-hand man today, join me. I also joined incubators at the very beginning of talm’s history, in particular Station F (Femtech programme) and the Willa incubator, which is brilliant and run by admirable, benevolent and supportive women. So surround yourself with people but also believe in your intuition, the best compass in my opinion.

www.talm.co
@toallthemamas